Music-leaf turner.



J. A. BITTING.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 12. 190s.

'PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

JEREMIAH A. BITTING, OF SOUTH BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 3, 1906.

Application filed :rune 12, 1905. serai No. 264,858.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, J EREMIAH A. BITTING, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Bethlehem, in the county of Northampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music-Leaf Turners and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use' the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to characters of reference marked thereon, which forms a part of this specification.

This invention relates to music-leaf turners, and has for its object to provide key-operated leaf-turning mechanism as free as possible from vibration, so as not to produce a noise due to sympathetic vibrations set up by the sound-vibrations of the instrument, as will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

The device is more particularly adapted for pianos and organs and may be made an integral part of their casings or may be constructed as a separate and independent device to set on the rack usually provided in such instruments.

The drawing, which illustrates my invention, is an elevation, parts being broken away to more clearly illustrate the operating mechanism and parts in section to illustrate the adjustable shelf.

Like parts are similarly designated wherever they occur.

The device comprises a casing 2 of such form as will be necessary to form a suitable support for the operative elements and at the same time present a pleasing decorative effect'when forming either a part of an organ or piano casing or constructed as a separate and independent device. The sides of the case are notched or serrated, as shown at 3, to support a shelf 1, adjustable as to height in the oppositelysituated serrated sides. The serrations are hidden from view behind a decorative molding 5.

There is a turning member for each leaf to be turned, six being here shown by way of illustration. However, any number can be used should it be found advisable or necessary to alter the number of them. Each leaf-turning member comprises a pinion 6, mounted on a shaft 6, common to all of the pinions, and secured to each pinion is an arm '7 of such form as to have their outer free ends lie one in front of another. On the outer end of each arm is a paper-clip 8 of any desired construction to be secured to the top edge of the leaf near the side thereof. Behind each pinion 6 and meshing therewith is a rack 9, having extensions 10 of suitable length, that are preferably, but not necessarily, integral with the rack. These extensions are preferably flat bars guided in guideways 11 near their ends, which ends are perforated, as indicated in dotted lines at 12. Through each perforation passes the upper end of a bellcrank lever 13. Some of these levers are pivoted on screws 14, going directly into the back of the frame, and others pivoted on screws 14a, screwed into distance-blocks 15. Tt will be observed that in the arrangement of parts shown there is a distance-block 15 for every other bell-crank lever 13. However, these blocks can be either varied to suit a particular design or omitted altogether, as found expedient. The lower shorter arm of each bell-crank lever is connected to the upper end of an operating-rod 16 in any suitable manner. I have shown this connection a piece of leather 17, whose ends are glued or otherwise secured to the front and back of a rod 16 and loops over the end of the short arm of the bell-crank levers. Each rod is connected at its lower end in a similar manner to a key-lever 18, the pivot 19 for these key-levers being back of the key 20. The pivots are of any desired construction and may be a pin passing through the key-lever, as is usual in piano and organ construction. It will thus be seen that each turning member is operable by two keys, one at the right hand and one at the left hand of the player, and that when the key at one side is depressed the key at the other side is elevated, ready to turn the leaf back into its original position. By having the ends of the turning members overlap, two or more leaves can be turned simultaneously, so that when the repeat or a part is to be replayed that covers two or more pages these pages can be turned back by depressing a single key. For example, by depressing the key marked a, its rod 16 will be lifted, throwing the upper arm of the bell-crank lever 13 to the left, thereby drawing its rack to the left and turning the lowermost pinion 6 and the lowermost turning member 7 from left to right. Now this member being overlapped by the two next above will carry these two over with it IOO IIO

and simultaneously reset all the operatingkeys vat the right that have been depressed.

In order to hold the music on shelf 4, I have shown an upper spring 21, that seats in the crease between the pages of the sheet or signature of a book containing the music, and on the adjustable shelf is a similar spring or clip 22 to engage the lower part of the sheet or book. At one side of the shelf is a flat pin 24, that takes into the notches or serrations, and at the other side is a recess 25, in which is a i'lat plate 26, having its inner end reduced to form a pin 27, around which is a spring 28, one end of which takes against the inner end of the recess 25 and the other against the shoulder formed between the reduced portion 27 and the body of the plate 26. A knob 29, working through a slot 30 and secured to the plate 26, enables the plate to be drawn back into the recess against the tension of its spring, so that the end of the plate is withdrawn from its notch to permit the rack to be taken from the casing and reinserted in another position, as will be readily seen from the drawing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a music-leaf turner, the combination with pinions and a leaf-turning arm secured to each pinion 5 of longitudinally-sliding racks engaging the pinions, pivoted bell-crank levers connected to the ends of the racks, an actuating-rod for each bell-crank lever, all of said parts lying generally in the same plane, and piano key-levers connected to the rods, said pinions and arms being at the top ofthe sheets to be turned.

2. In a music-leaf turner, the combination with pinions in vertical alinement and a leafturning arm connected to each pinion, the arms bent at their ends to lie one in front of the other; of longitudinally-sliding racks engaging the pinions, a pair of pivoted bellcrank levers connected to each rack, the upright arm of one lever connected to one end of the rack and the upright arm of the other lever of the pair to the other end of the rack, vertical operating-rods connected to the laterally-projecting arms of the levers, all of said parts lying generally in a plane, and piano key-levers mounted at right angles to the general plane in which the parts operate and each connected to a vertical operatingrod. l l

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribin witnesses.

JEREM AH A. BITTING.

Witnesses:

J. P. HARTZOG, FRANCIS C. CHRISTMAN, 

